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Sky Burial in Tibet

Tibetans practice several different forms of funeral: sky burial (or celestial burial), water funeral, cremation, interment and stupa burial. Which one is chosen depends on the wealth and social status of the deceased.

Sky burial is to feed vultures with the body of the dead. After vultures finish eating the body and fly into the sky, Tibetans think that the dead will go to the heaven. It is the usual means adopted to dispose of the corpses of commoners, and is not considered suitable for children who are less than 18 years old, pregnant women, or those who have died of infectious disease or accident. Even today, the origin of sky burial remains largely hidden in Tibetan mystery.

  Religious belief

Sky burial is a ritual with great religious meaning behind it. Tibetans are encouraged to witness this ritual, to confront death openly and to feel the impermanence of life. Tibetans believe that the corpse is nothing more than an empty vessel. The spirit, or the soul, of the deceased has exited the body to be reincarnated into another circle of life. It is believed that the Drigung Kagyu order of Tibetan Buddhism established the tradition in this land of snow, although there are other versions of its origin.

The corpse is offered to the vultures. It is believed that the vultures are Dakinis. Dakinis are the Tibetan equivalent of angels. In Tibetan, Dakini means "sky dancer". Dakinis will take the soul into the heaven, which is understood to be a windy place where souls await reincarnation into their next lives. This donation of human flesh to the vultures is considered virtuous because it saves the lives of small animals that the vultures might otherwise capture for food. Sakyamuni, one of the Buddhas, demonstrated this virtue. To save a pigeon, he once fed a hawk with his own flesh.How it works

After death, the deceased will be left untouched for three days. Monks will chant around the corpse. Before the day of sky burial, the corpse will be cleaned and wrapped in white cloth. The corpse will be positioned in a fetal position, the same position in which the person had been born. The ritual of sky burial usually begins before dawn. Lamas lead a ritual procession to the charnel ground, chanting to guide the soul. There are a few charnel grounds in Tibet. They are usually located near monasteries. Few people would visit charnel grounds except to witness sky burials. Few would want to visit these places.

After the chanting, the body breakers prepare the body for consumption by the vultures. The body is unwrapped and the first cut is made on the back. Hatchets and cleavers are used to quickly cut the body up, in a definite and precise way. Flesh is cut into chunks of meat. The internal organs are cut into pieces. Bones are smashed into splinters and then mixed with tsampa, roasted barley flour.

As the body breakers begin, juniper incense is burned to summon the vultures for their tasks, to eat breakfast and to be Dakinis. During the process of breaking up the body, those ugly and enormous birds circle overhead, awaiting their feast. They are waved away by the funeral party, usually consisting of the friends of the deceased, until the body breakers have completed their task. After the body has been totally separated, the pulverized bone mixture is scattered on the ground. The birds land and hop about, grabbing for food. To assure ascent of the soul, the entire body of the deceased should be eaten. After the bone mixture, the organs are served next, and then the flesh.

This mystical tradition arouses curiosity among those who are not Tibetan. However, Tibetans strongly object to visits by the merely curious. Only the funeral party will be present at the ritual. Photography is strictly forbidden. Tibetans believe that photographing the ritual might negatively affect the ascent of the soul.As mentioned above, there are some other forms of funeral practiced in Tibet besides sky burial.

Water funerals are usually given to the lowest class of people such as beggars, widows, widowers, orphans and the childless. The body is taken to the river, torn limb from limb and thrown into the torrent. In some places, a simpler practice prevails where the whole body, wrapped in a white cloth, is thrown into the river. This method of burial is popular in the deep valleys of southern Tibet where there are no vultures.

The cremation is permitted for lamas and those of noble birth. After cremation the ashes are taken to high mountains and scattered into the winds, or thrown into rivers.

Interment first appeared in about the 2nd century BC when Pude Gongyal held funeral for his father, Drigum Tsanpo, the eighth king of the Tubo Dynasty. However, as Buddhism penetrated the whole of Tibet, interment gradually became a lower form of burial for those who have died of infectious diseases such as leprosy, anthrax and smallpox, and for robbers, murderers and those who have been killed by a dagger. Religious law does not permit such people to receive a sky or water burial, but decrees that as punishment they must be buried under the earth in order to destroy their last vestige. Relatives regard such punishment as a great disgrace.

Stupa burial is a very distinguished form of burial reserved for famous lamas only. The body is painted with salt water and dried, and again smeared with precious ointments and perfumes, and then embalmed in a stupa. Such funerals are given to honor only great lamas like the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama. After cremation ashes may also be placed within a stupa. Kept in monastery halls, stupas vary greatly depending on the rank of the occupant of each. Dalai Lamas and Panchen Lamas are given gold stupas, covered in sheets of solid gold, while the successor to Tsongkapa's religious throne in the Ganden Monastery is eligible only for a silver stupa. Other materials include bronze , wood and clay.

Another form of burial is that used when infants die, and consists of placing the body inside a clay pot, sealing the mouth and casting it into a river. Alternatively, the pot may be preserved inside a storehouse.

Generally speaking, no matter what kind of funeral was selected, in the past monks had to be invited to perform religious rites to release the soul from the body before the corpse could be disposed of.